US men’s basketball set to face Brazil in Olympic quarterfinals

The U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team will take on Brazil in the win-or-go-home quarterfinals on Tuesday, as eight teams remain in the tournament after group play.

The game will tip off at 12:30 p.m. MST, and the winner will face either Serbia or Australia in the semifinals.

The earliest the U.S. could see Germany, Canada or France is the final. The Germany-Greece winner will take on the France-Canada winner on the other side of the bracket.

ROAD TO GOLD 🥇

Men’s #Basketball Quarter-Finals are here 🔥#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/rCdpqMzulb

— FIBA (@FIBA) August 3, 2024

Games for the gold and bronze medals in France are next Saturday, the next-to-last day of the Paris Games.

“They’re all excellent teams, well-coached,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said of the quarterfinalists. “But Brazil is our focus.”

Phoenix Suns stars Devin Booker and Kevin Durant helped Team USA handle its group with three wins by a combined 64 points. The U.S. defeated Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico. Germany had the next best point differential at 47.

Durant scored 16 points per game in group play, which ranked 17th in the tournament and second on Team USA behind Anthony Edwards. Durant on Saturday became Team USA’s all-time leader in rebounds at the Olympics, passing Carmelo Anthony. He already had the record for points.

Booker put up 10.3 points per game starting for the U.S. He also collected 4.3 assists per game, second on the team behind LeBron James.

Brazil’s leading scorer this tournament is Vitor Benite, followed by former NBA player Bruno Caboclo.

Team USA and Brazil last met at the Olympics in 1996.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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